Monday, August 22, 2011

NEWS LINKS | August 22, 2011

SBCTC NEWS LINKS | Articles about – and of interest to – Washington state community and technical colleges


 

SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS

 

Learning English helps Sounders FC players on and off field

Along with MLS championships and scoring crowns, Fredy Montero had another goal when he came to the United States. He wanted to learn English. Upon signing with Sounders FC in 2009, the young Colombian forward knew that understanding the language in his new home was vital. So along with taking English lessons through the team, he also enrolled in classes at Bellevue College. A couple years later, Montero speaks nearly perfect English.

Seattle Times, August 11, 2011

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sounders/2015886488_sounders12.html?prmid=head_main

 

OpenCourseWare People's Choice Award Winners: Final List

The winners of the first OCW People's Choice Award represent some of the best of the Open Education Movement.

And the winners are.... Most Accessible: Open Course Library Created by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, OCL has an overall goal of lowering costs, improving experiences and encouraging course completion among community college students in the state.)

Education Portal, August 15, 2011

http://education-portal.com/articles/OCW_Peoples_Choice_Award_Winners_Final_List.html

 

Bellevue College Summer Science Camp opens to a few more

“The camp’s goal is to keep young people interested in science,” said [Dr. Jim] Ellinger, who teaches biology, human anatomy and physiology at the college. “We particularly want to expose girls to science.”

Bellevue KOMO, August 16, 2011

http://bellevue.komonews.com/news/events/659988-kids-science-camp-opens-few

 

McLaughlin reflects on long career of success at Lower Columbia College

"We graduated more people last year than ever before — we think that's a great thing," said Jim McLaughlin, 63, who officially retires Aug. 31. McLaughlin is only the Longview college's third president since 1969. He'll retire as the fourth-longest serving president in the state's community college system, which consists of 34 schools. … "It's never easy to leave a job," McLaughlin said. "At the same time, you never go through a graveyard and see on anybody's tombstone, ‘I wish I had more time in the office.' There comes a time when people need a change and institutions need change."

The Daily News, August 20, 2011
http://tdn.com/news/local/article_4e93528a-cad0-11e0-b924-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1VnwbEjwl

 

Google plans 840-worker office in Bothell

Google is renovating a two-story building in a Bothell office park to accommodate up to 840 workers, the latest sign the weak economic recovery hasn't slowed the race for tech talent. … Today there are still more job vacancies than skilled workers, and recruiters say companies are accepting candidates from community colleges who have the drive to keep learning. The record level of tech employment may strike some as curious during the worst economic recovery in the post-World War II era.

Seattle Times, August 20, 2011

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2015957137_googlebothell20.html

 

Opinion:  Partnerships that work / Efforts to help give unemployed workers the skills they need to land new jobs are paying off

… Jobs are out there, but the people looking for work often don't have the necessary skills to qualify for them or, more importantly, don't know how to market themselves effectively to employers. … U.S. Sen. Patty Murray visited Snohomish County recently …  to talk about skills gaps between workers and the businesses that need them, and the help that workforce development programs can provide through industry-driven training programs -- that is, training people for jobs that will otherwise go unfilled. …   Snohomish County provided the 30,000-square-foot facility to house the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center (WATR), an industry-led training center run jointly by Edmonds Community College and the Aerospace Futures Alliance. This public-private partnership is a perfect example of the way industry can lead the way for workforce training -- training that ends in jobs.

… Gov. Chris Gregoire has also been supportive, announcing in May that $3 million in federal discretionary funds would go to train workers for the aerospace industry. About $600,000 of that money is coming to Snohomish County to train 176 unemployed workers in aerospace-related certificate programs at the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center and at Everett and Edmonds community colleges. … In fact, as of July 2011, 250 unemployed workers had received training there. Of those who completed their certifications in Aerospace Manufacturing Core and Assembly Mechanic Certification, 213 received job offers, and 173 are working at Boeing or another local aerospace firm. The center is a perfect example of how collaboration can lead to jobs for our unemployed, and to skilled workers for our local businesses. … The skills gap gets smaller every day. But we can't afford to retrain every worker, and there's already a lengthy waiting list to get into WATR's programs.

The Herald, August  20, 2011

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110820/OPINION03/708219997

 

Highline Community College receives nearly $225,000 in geoscience grants

Highline Community College announced … it has been awarded nearly $225,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation in support of geoscience education.  Highline has played a role in trying to create and organize a national community of geoscience faculty at community colleges and to increase enrollment of underrepresented students in geoscience programs.  “The grants support building a community of geoscience instructors at two-year colleges so we can share ideas, talk about challenges facing students and faculty and develop solutions to problems we have in common,” said Highline Geology instructor Eric Baer.

Waterland Blog, August 22, 2011

http://www.waterlandblog.com/2011/08/22/highline-community-college-receives-nearly-225000-in-geoscience-grants/

 

Running Start program changes

Olympic College, working with area high schools, is notifying Running Start students about recent changes made by the 2011 legislature to the Running Start program.

Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal, August 22, 2011

http://kpbj.com/business_weekly/2011-08-22/running_start_program_changes

 

Regents to meet in county to show ‘WSU is very committed’

Washington State University's Board of Regents will meet in Snohomish County for the first time next month, a move intended to show the college is serious about building a lasting presence in the community. …  They also plan to dine with EvCC trustees, a sign the two institutions have put behind them a bitter battle in front of lawmakers this year over who should run the 500-student consortium housed on the community college campus.  "We had our disagreements in that process. It's past that," said Everett Community College President David Beyer.  "I said to President (Elson) Floyd, 'We'd like to host you for dinner,' and he said he wanted to host us," Beyer said. "I don't know who's hosting who, but I know we're having dinner." … Beyer said the meeting sends "a positive message that they're serious, they're committed and they want to learn more" about the region in which they are setting deeper roots.  Beyer said a "very gracious" Floyd consulted him before the decision and invited the community college to make a presentation at the meeting.

The Herald, August 22, 2011

http://heraldnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110822/NEWS01/708229917&template=PrinterFriendly

 

Evergreen ER Nurse Going Strong After 30 Years of Helping Others

If you visit the ER or urgent care department at Redmond's Evergreen Medical Center, you might well run into Kim Striber, one of the new team members at Evergreen’s recently opened facility at Bella Bottega. Striber is no newcomer to nursing, however, and just marked her 30th anniversary with Evergreen. She said she loves helping people and can't think of a career better spent than hers. … Striber went to work for Evergreen after getting her nursing degree from Shoreline Community College and has worked her entire career with the same medical group.

Redmond Patch, August 22, 2011

http://redmond.patch.com/articles/about-town-evergreen-er-nurse-going-strong-after-30-years-of-helping-others

 

TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION

 

Skills Gap Leaving U.S. Jobs Unfilled

A think tank panel … talks about the outlook for President Barack Obama's proposal to boost the U.S. economy and labor market ... and shares job creation ideas. E.g. Everyone needs to be an entrepreneur, spending vs saving, declining standard of living, 40% of young people unemployed (Depression-era numbers), market recovery vs job recovery; [at 8:34 in] four million unfilled jobs, in the long run education is the answer, Job Training Partnership Act.

Taking Stock, Bloomberg Television, August 17, 2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/angrisani-says-skills-gap-leaving-us-jobs-unfilled/2011/08/17/gIQAw4MBMJ_video.html

 

Moving your marketing office from news bureau to strategic partner

Stop taking orders for publications, and instead work with other offices to address their marketing challenges in more strategic ways; Set strategic goals and measures for your marketing operation; Own the website; Staff your office with "marketing strategists."

Academic Impressions,  August 18, 2011

http://www.academicimpressions.com/news.php?i=225&q=9223f274411cU

 

Op-ed: What Washington can do to help unemployed workers land on their feet

Thanks to the economic trials of recent years, millions of jobs are gone forever, creating a lost generation of older workers who need more education to land new jobs. Guest columnist Alan Davis writes about what the Washington Legislature can do … In fact, the harshest part of that truth is that jobless workers in their 40s and 50s have become a lost generation with virtually no hope of satisfactory re-employment without further education or retraining. They deserve to be told that honestly so they can face up to the need for change. … The reality is that new jobs likely will emerge in this country but they won't be filled with old skills. Thus many of those who lost jobs over the past three years will remain a generation lost in time because their skills won't permit them to fill those new jobs.

Seattle Times, August 20, 2011

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2015960629_guest21davis.html

 

WSU bucks trend, loads up on freshmen

WSU is attracting more students by recruiting heavily in high schools, encouraging minority students to apply and wooing top-ranked students with extra attention, easy admission and scholarships. But it's also benefiting from the UW's decision to let in fewer in-state students. … A student survey shows that budget cutbacks are already taking a toll. …  Still, the regents board has already voted to increase tuition by another 16 percent next year. With that increase, tuition will make up 60 percent of the cost of a year of schooling, and state funding 40 percent. "My dad worked at Baskin-Robbins to put himself through WSU, and you can't do that anymore, you can't have a summer job that pays the tuition," said Riley Myklebust, WSU student-body president. He called it "a disconnect with my parents' generation," and said many students are on the hunt for part-time jobs for this school year.

Seattle Times, August 21, 2011

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015969343_wsu21m.html

 

Sharing a President

Apparently, in a cost-cutting move, the SUNY system is considering having three of its sitting Presidents become Presidents of two colleges each. The idea is to save the salaries of three Presidents, and to make a conspicuous public statement about moving resources out of administration and into teaching.

Inside Higher Ed, August 22, 2011

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions_of_a_community_college_dean/sharing_a_president

 

 

POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL

 

State work force down almost 10% in three years

The Olympian, August 20, 2011

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/08/20/1766722/state-work-force-down-almost-10.html

 

 

 


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